When homeless encampments flourished throughout Maine’s largest city in 2023 and 2024, Maine’s newspaper reporters were eager to tell the sad story of down-on-their-luck Mainers who had been failed by the state’s generous social services.
In dozens of instances, they turned to one man—46-year-old Bruce Cavallaro—the quasi-mayor of whatever homeless camp the reporters were covering on any given day.
Tragically for Maine’s newspaper reporters, their favorite spokesperson for “Mainers experiencing homelessness” was arrested Thursday as part of a high-risk search warrant executed on the apartment unit that Maine State Police say had been transformed into the center of a narcotics trafficking ring.
The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) announced Wednesday the arrest of seven people, including media darling Cavallarro, connected to a suspected drug operation in apartment 402 of 658 Congress St in Portland. Police say they had been investigating the apartment for months due to reports of drug trafficking, threatening displays with weapons and disorderly conduct.
Prior to getting lugged for his role in the narcotics peddling conspiracy, Cavallaro received extensive coverage in Maine’s media outlets for living in Portland’s large homeless encampments.
Indeed, his ubiquity in photographs published by the Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun Journal, Maine Public, and even the Boston Globe is such a highly unusual coincidence that one has to wonder whether Cavallaro secretly has a highly paid press agent.
In nearly every story covering Cavallaro, the legacy media outlets portrayed the now-incarcerated would-be squatter as a victim of the city’s policy of clearing the trash- and needle-filled campsites over the past two years.
Cavallaro’s friends in the Maine media never got the memo that he somehow found his way into more stable housing at 658 Congress St, an apartment building whose owner remains unclear.
But according to the MDEA, Cavallaro was the man renting the apartment around which the major narcotics investigation revolved. They said that the landlord had evicted Cavallaro, but he refused to leave.
Cavallaro was among the seven arrested after a search of the apartment by police on Wednesday resulted in the seizure of fentanyl, methamphetamine, crack cocaine and other drug paraphernalia.
He was transported to Cumberland County Jail and charged with criminal trespass.
Portland Police investigation is ongoing, and police say additional charges will be reviewed based on evidence seized during the search.
Before this bad turn of luck, Cavallaro received glowing coverage, was included in photoshoots and frequently quoted in news articles while he was living outside in the city’s homeless encampments, and was taken on several occasions to be a spokesperson for the opposition to the city’s policy of “sweeping” the camps.
Portland saw several large homeless encampments sprout up in various locations throughout the city, with the camps reaching their greatest size in the summer, fall and winter of 2023 into 2024.
Particularly large encampments were at the Marginal Way Park-and-Ride, the Fore River Parkway and under the Casco Bay Bridge at Harborview Park.
Those encampments, which at their peak consisted of well over 75 tents each and were littered with needles, garbage and a large number of bikes, were eventually cleared one-by-one by the city, amid protests from the Maine Democratic Socialists of America and other activist groups.
Portland Press Herald:
- Portland won’t pause homeless sweeps this winter. Now what?
- Attorneys threaten to sue Portland over homeless encampments
- Portland Maine police investigating death near Marginal Way
- Portland’s homeless population often relies on dangerous propane heaters to stay warm
- State announces plan to sweep Portland’s Marginal Way homeless encampment
- Portland puts off plan to clear encampment from Bayside Trail
- Portland looks for answers as new homeless encampments pop up around the city
- Portland promised to store personal items from encampment sweeps. But nothing is in storage.
Bangor Daily News:
- Life goes on at Portland homeless encampment as officials debate its future
- Months after clearing a camp, Portland still has hundreds of homeless tents
Boston Globe:
NewsCenter Maine:
Maine Public:
- ‘We’re people too’ — Unhoused Portland residents consider options as city postpones encampment sweep
- Portland clears largest homeless encampment after protesters attempt to stop it
It is unclear how Cavallaro was able to rent the Congress Street apartment after being apparently chronically homeless for over five years, and living in homeless encampments in the city as recently as last year.
Portland’s Department of Health and Human Services administers the city’s General Assistance program, a municipal welfare program under which indigent individuals may apply for vouchers to pay rent, and buy food, medication and other necessities.
According to public records obtained by the Maine Wire in 2023, Portland had spent 50 times more per person on General Assistance welfare than other Maine cities and consumed 73 percent of all GA spending.
A spokesperson for the city declined to confirm whether Cavallaro was a beneficiary of the city’s robust welfare programs, citing privacy protections.
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